Six habits of Highly Grateful People

   Jeremy Adam Smith's article "Six Habits of highly Grateful people"  explained that their is more to gratitude than we know and there are different ways to make oneself more grateful.Smith shared with us 6 tips in which we could become more grateful people. The six tips included: thinking about death to realize life without someone,appreciate the little things, realize that things are not just given to us when we are born, be grateful towards people and not just things, be specific when showing gratitude, and be grateful for the things we never thought to be thankful for(Smith, Six Habits of..). I have to say out of the six habits, I have practiced four of them and I am lacking in two of them. I have occasionally thought how life would be without a person and it instantly makes you feel more grateful about having them in your life. I sometimes stop to enjoy the little things, but not every time, and this is something I need to work on. I have always appreciated the things I have because I know that they did not just some up when I was born. I am always grateful for the people in my life and am always specific when it comes to thanking someone. The one habit that I have never incorporated in my life was to thank the things that have harmed me. I now know that even if they seem horrible in the moment in one way it is helping me in some aspect in my life.
    Before reading Smith's article "Six Habits of Highly Grateful People" I though that I was the most grateful person on earth, but in reality I am not. I thought that all I had to do was to be thankful for the people who are in my life and that I love, but I never really appreciate the little things. TLU is a beautiful school with  big trees blowing and squirrels running around, yet I never really appreciate these things. I thought gratitude was only about being grateful for th life that you have and I now realize that I was wrong. I now feel that it is important for myself to be grateful and to be grateful in the right way. I have to work on being grateful towards things that I would have never been grateful for before and realize that even then I should be grateful. Life is so much more enjoyable when you are grateful for the things in your life.

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Works Cited

Smith, Jeremy Adam. "Six Habits of Highly Grateful People." Greater Good: The Science of a Meaningful Life. University of California, Berkeley, 20 Nov. 2013. Web. 26 Nov. 2013.

what is my purpose?

   I wonder what my purpose is? I think about this everyday. In fact I have thought about this since I was in elementary school. It's like I have something deep inside of me telling me that I am destined to do something, but I just don't know what. Now that I am in college and I am on my way to becoming a teacher and I  still ask myself what is my real purpose is. I hope to find out one day what my purpose is and to fulfill it as well. I know my purpose has something to do with helping people and whatever my calling is, I'm sure I will be happy about it.
      My number one strength identified in the VIA strength assessment was my spirituality and it honestly make a lot of sense. I am very in tune with my spirituality and it is very important to me. There are some thing s that just can not be explained and those are the things that I live for. Like, why did God choose us to be the ones who could communicate the best and rule over everything else? What is beyond the universe I live in? Was is fate that brought me and my husband together or was it just something that happened? Well I honestly believe that we are meant to be together. I mean I had a crush on him my whole high school years I never spoke to him, even though we had the same group of friends. Then one night at a party BOOM we talked and the rest is history, I later discovered that he had liked me for a while too and had asked my friends about me. It is just to amazing to not be fate.
   I think that it is important for everyone to realize that they are on earth for a reason and that they are important. I may not know what my exact purpose is but I know that I am where I belong at the moment. I just want everyone to be at peace with themselves and where they are. I know that that everyone has a purpose that they are here and they should find out what it is. I think it is easy when being a students to think of your career as your purpose but it is important to remember that there is an even higher purpose than that.

Gratitude

   There is not a day that goes by that I do not thank God for all that I have. I am so grateful for the family I have and all of the opportunities that lie ahead of me. What is there not to be grateful about? I have an awesome opportunity to further my education here at Texas Lutheran University and I got got scholarships to attend the school as well. I have an apartment to live in that is provided by the school that was fully furnished and I never have to worry about any bills that need to be paid( well besides my phone bill, gym,bank,food, etc.). I mean how awesome is that? My husband who does not attend TLU but a college in San Antonio  is able to live in the apartment with me, and that is something I am really grateful for. I am grateful that my parents did not chastise me for wanting to get married at 18, but instead they gave us their blessings. I am blessed to have parents who are so supportive in everything I do and they encourage me everyday to be strong, study, and to believe in myself. I am also grateful for my mother in-law who is supportive of me as well and she is always there to spread some wisdom. Something I am grateful for is the fact that I attend a school where there is a chapel Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I was missing something in my life, but since coming here I feel a little more at ease.
    I think gratitude is a must have for students wanting success in college. It is important to be grateful for what you have because then it makes everything worth it. When you are grateful for something it is more likely that you will work harder, because you feel like you owe it to yourself. I have always been taught that it is important to always give thanks for what you have and it is what I live by. When I was born certain things were give to me, the love of my parents, a home, etc., and it is important that you are always thankful for that. There are some people who face way more struggles than I will ever know, With this being said I know that sometimes you just want to feel bad for yourself, but that is no good. Gratitude is something I cannot go a day without and I think it is something everyone should have.

Tomorrow I have to present my information with my partner about a society. For my History class. I never met with my partner and we only communicated through email and I am a little scared for tomorrow. I know that it is really  important that I do well on the project, but I am not that confident that I will do that well. I have studied my information but I am afraid that we will not share the same information or that things won't sound right. I know that my partner is very capable but I am not sure if we will present the information good. I want to do good, but I am just afraid of failing. In high school I never had to worry about any of the projects that I had, because the projects were just so simple. I was never afraid of not doing well because I always did well. Now that I am in college, there is always pressure to do well and I don't want to suck. I really want to do the best of my ability and to succeed at what ever I am doing.
My project is about a gay society and it is during the time of world war two. Gays did not get the same rights that the straight people had. Many gays did not get the same benefits that all of the straight people did. They would often force them to leave the military, as soon as they would find out that someone was gay. For a long time there was the "Don't ask, Don't tell policy"and now that is gone. It has been a struggle for gay women and men to get the same rights as straight people. I really like the idea of having a gay society being present during a time where they were discriminated against. Even though I am straight I still believe that we should all be treated equally. I hope that everyone in my class understands what me and my partner are trying to explain. I wasn't everyone to know that it was not an easy time for gays at that time period and that it was rough for them to go what they went through. I hope everything goes well tomorrow, and I will be happy when my presentation is over with.

October

October has came and next week it will go. It has been a long month that has challenged me in different ways and kept me on my toes. I had my first mid-terms and I got a new job. I am glad to say that I will be ending the month a better student then at the beginning of the month. I don't mean necessarily that my grades are a whole lot better, but I think that I have become a better  student because I have become more organized with my school work. I have dropped my first class ever, my math class. I tried my best to stick with my math class and to pass the class, but things just weren't planning out. After getting my mid-term grades I was shocked to see that one failing grade made all my other grades seem like they weren't there. It was really hard for me to see that my GPA was so low, to low for my scholarship requirements. I really didn't want to drop my Math class, but it was just a level of Math that I could not learn at. When I was in high school I was just as horrible in math, but I managed to pass my math classes. Actually I passed all of my Math classes with really good grades, but that is because I had time to do my homework. I knew that College Algebra was going to be hard for me, but I never expected that it would hurt my confidence. It didn't matter how much I tried on my assignments and homework, I could never achieve the grades I wanted. It was a really big wake up call for me when I realized that I just couldn't handle my Math class. I always thought that I was smart and had something to offer, but since I have joined Texas Lutheran University, I have realized that I am a tiny fish surrounded by sharks. I know that I have a shark somewhere in me and it is starting to some out in me. I will do what ever it takes to succeed and have good grades, and nothing will stand in my way. I have one goal in sight, to become a teacher, and it is the one thing I want most. Some people tell me that the Education program is really hard to get into at Texas Lutheran University, but I know that I will make it.

High school to College

   In High school you see the same people everyday, but in college it is a different story. In High school I would see my friends all the time and I was always with them, but now it is rare that I see my high school friends. I always thought that I would stay in contact with all my friends from high school, but I have discovered that it is hard to find the time to do that. Everyone is going to college and working, so it's hard to find the time to hang out. Any time that I am in San Antonio, where I am from, I am mainly there to wort and I never have time to see my friends. It also doesn't help that they are working as well and they don't get off until late. People that I thought I was going to stay in contact with have gone with the wind. Sometimes I'll find the time to call one of my high school friends and it won't be a long conversation because we both have things to get done. I wish I had more time to enjoy being young and not always worrying about what I need to pay or what assignment is due next.
   Time management is completely different from high school to college. In high school I always had free time to do whatever I wanted and I never really had to worry about any deadlines. I always had time to do anything I wanted and I never felt any pressure to anything. Now that I am in college, I always have something that needs to get done. Everyday there is some new assignment that is due and I never have time to just sit down and relax. I never knew how much things  would have to get done in college and it has been a wake up call. I know that it is all worth it and it is just stuff that I need to get done. I hope that I will soon have free time to do things that I want to do. I never had so much things to do in high school and I sometimes wish that I could go back in time and enjoy more of the free time I had. I need to manage my time better because I need to incorporate some fun into my life. Even though sometimes I want to go back in time, I know that it is better to stay in the present.

from high school to college

The pressure to do good in college is overwhelming and it is at sometimes scary. Every grade we get is important and it scares me if I get anything below an 'A'. When I was in High school there was barely any pressure because it wasn't hard to do well and it isn't that hard to get into colleges. Now that I am in College, I am more stressed than I have ever been because I want to have the best grades possible.I have managed to have pretty good grades at my college, but I want to do better. Their is so much on the line and I am afraid to fail. I know that it is important to fail sometimes because in the end it will help you more than it hurt you, but I just hate the feeling of knowing I failed at something. It was so easy in high school. I never really knew how much of a difference their is between high school and college, but now I do. My "AP" classes in high school were no where near as invigorating as they are in college. In high school it was just a little more work in the advance placement classes than in the regular classes. I love being in college because there are so many things to get involved with and organizations and you can meet all kinds of people, but it's still hard. I not only have to worry about my grades, but go to work, and make sure I have groceries, and essentials needed on a daily basis. Since I have come to college I have gained more appreciation for my parents and everything they have and continue to do for me. Whenever I am in town to work, my mom will make lots of food and have it packed and ready to go for me. They help me out if I don't have enough money, and they just reassure me that I am where I need to be and that I need to stay focused on my goals. Some day I will look back at my college days, and I will be proud of what I accomplished. I still have time management issues, but slowly I am getting better at setting a schedule and getting things done when they need to be done. It is different and exciting to be on my own, but it is for shure not as fun or easy as I thought it would be.